AMD’s fastest chip to date, the 7000 series, will soon see the release of the singular 7970 and 7950, and later the dual-chips. These latest graphics cards, which are to be codenamed New Zealand (in line with AMD’s island-based naming policy), are scheduled for release in early 2012.

The release of these new chips will not only be good news in terms of increased memory bandwidth, but will also see much greater power efficiency in comparison to the 6000 series.